Grown Ups 2 : Movie Review

"Grown Ups" fast became one of the biggest hits of Adam Sandler's career when it was released in June 2010, but that success only seemed to fuel the fire of its ruthless critical disdain. Yes, the film was overloaded with—and harmed by—bathroom humor, juvenile behavior, and obvious pratfalls, but what most of its naysayers seemed to overlook was what happened in between the obvious low-rent stuff. A laid-back, intermittently sweet story of old childhood friends reuniting with each other and their families after they're all brought back to their hometown for the funeral of their basketball coach, the picture's breezy tone, likable ensemble, and preference for nostalgia-tinged observations in lieu of needless overplotting gave it an unexpectedly genial undercurrent. Revisiting "Grown Ups" on Blu-ray three years later only confirmed my original assessment: it's really not that bad of a movie and has almost certainly received a bum rap.